From the outside looking in it is all pretty darn easy. Be beautiful, come to Hollywood, get discovered, become a star, walk red carpets and become rich and famous. Viola’. That is overwhelmingly bull roar. Sure there are obviously several super stars that do seem to enjoy a very good life. But even at that level it is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Some even die of drug overdoses and that is truly sad. Yet from the newly “aspiring” to the veteran “A-Lister” there is a giant army in the middle with all manner of skills and interests.

Recently, I, a certified genuine Hollywood nobody took on a strange but intriguing project. I started working on a documentaryfilm. I have done so out of utter amazement with and love of the subject matter. That subject matter is the truly astonishing Akana family.

Several years ago now the Akana family discovered inline speed skating. It rapidly grew from a weekend family activity to an overwhelming passion. Moreover it became quickly evident that the entire family had a unique quality that made them excel in the sport. Over the years they amassed literally thousands of medals and trophies. Their enthusiasm and passion grew and they went out on the road. They even went to France and came away with more medals and trophies. The problem is that none of the wins brought big paychecks like they might had they engaged in a more moneyed sport, say the WWF perhaps.

Anyhow the family leader Stacy became the passionately driven captain of the Akana ship. Aided by his beautiful bride Roni they along with eight of their children have again set out to conquer the inline speed skating world yet again. This time their home is entirely on wheels as they traverse the nation in pursuit of a place in the Olympic Games for the sport they so love. This by no means a selfish goal either. They want this for all of their much beloved inline skating enthusiast friends.

But as you can imagine hauling around eight kids ages 5 through 19 is not an easy chore. Yet when you meet this family you are instantly overwhelmed by their beauty, love and enthusiasm for life. And so it was on a recent visit to my hometown of Burbank, California that I committed to helping them achieve their goal in the best way I could think of. I agreed to help them make a documentary movie for the primary purpose of bringing their incredible story to the world of reality television. I have no doubt but that once this story is seen by a competent TV producer their story will get seen by an appreciative nation of sports enthusiasts and television viewers. More importantly to me is that it will also dramatically improve the lives of the fabulous children and their loving parents.

But truth be told even a dirt cheap documentary production cannot be done absolutely free. So I started a crowd funding campaign with the goal of raising a mere $5000 to get everything done right on through post production. Everything went well for the first thousand dollars, but then we got stuck. I have never been more committed to any project and regardless of what happens I will get this documentary done. That said getting just this small amount of funding actually done would make a huge difference for all concerned. So it is my most sincere hope that when you read this it will motivate you to go to: http://www.gofundme.com/amazingakana and make whatever donation you can comfortably make. Even the minimum of $10 is tremendously appreciated. Like I said, this may be “Hollywood” but very few folks even here qualify as rich and famous. This is a truly beautiful family and their compelling story demands to be told. Your help is deeply appreciated. Thank you.

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Born in Chicago, Illinois April 1945. Ron served in the United State Marine Corps including one tour in Vietnam from 1963 to 1967. He practiced law in Illinois until moving to Burbank, CA in 1983 to begin a career as a talk radio host. Ron also holds a commercial pilots license and is an accomplished photographer and published author.